2002 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 105-109
Cough appeared in a 63-year-old woman on December 15, 2000, and she was hospitalized in another hospital after producing about 200 ml hemoptysis on December 22. On admission, her chest X-ray film showed an infiltrative shadow in the right upper and lower lung fields. Hemoptysis disappeared and the patient was treated based on a tentative diagnosis of pneumonia. However, atelectasis of the right lung field was recognized, whereupon she was transfered to our hosptal on January 11, 2001. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy demonstrated coagulated blood in the right main bronchus, which was removed through the fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Since no pathological change related to the extensive hemoptysis was found by fiberoptic bronchoscopy and chest CT scanning, idiopathic bronchial hemorrhage was diagnosed. The literature contains few reports on patients with massive atelectasis due to idiopathic bronchial hemorrhage.
